Download Gandharan Standing Buddha

Standing Buddha with Kharosthi inscription
Gandhara, Pakistan
Kushan Period
2nd - 3rd Century CE
Grey schist
Height: 160 cm (ca. 63 inches)
With the advance and growing popularity of Mahayana Buddhism during the Kushan
period, large detached images were often commissioned by wealthy devotees and
placed in shrines, niches and courtyards of the Buddhist viharas whenever the
demand for an icon arose. This sculpture of the Buddha, complete with devotional
inscription, was evidently commissioned under such circumstances. The inscription
reads:
JIVASHIRASA - SAMGHANAMDASA - VOHAMITRASA - DANAMUKH?
“This is the donation of Jivashiras, Samghananda, Vohamitra,”1
Wearing the monastic garment, sanghati, which, as in most of the standing images
covers both shoulders (See figs 1-5). The lower hem of the garment reveals the
undergarment (antaravasaka). The hands would have been in standard positions, the
right one raised - expressing reassurance, abhaya mudra, while the left would have
extended along the body, supporting the hem of the monastic garment (compare
Fig.1).
The posture of the Buddha is relaxed with the figure’s weight resting on his right foot
and the left leg slightly bent at the knee and protruding through the garment. Both the
transparency of the clothing and the tendency to model the body is predominant in the
Gandharan style of the latter part of the second - third century AD.
1
Prof. Harry Falk, 2002
The Buddha has elongated ear-lobes, downcast eyes. His wavy hair is lightly carried
up to the top of the head and surmounted by a large usnisa. This particular image has
an exceptionally beautiful face
At first glance, the entire corpus of standing Buddhas from Gandhara look very
similar. Upon closer examination however, one can see subtle differences in the
drapery, hair and overall proportions of the figures, which may correspond to the
location of a particular Buddhist site and period.
For example, Tissot (SAA 1993: p. 746) points out that the proportions of the
standing Buddhas of Sahri-Bahlol (approximately five heads for one body), with their
very large shoulders supporting a halo that, in its diameter, is even wider than the
shoulders, and their easy flowing garments which shroud the body, lend the images a
squat appearance that is the trademark of early Gandharan sculpture, first quarter of
the 2nd century AD (Fig. 1)
Through comparison with the Sahri-Bahlol examples (Fig. 5) and those from other
sites, (Fig.,2 - 5), the differences become clear. For example, the neckline of the
drapery of Figs. 2 - 4 follows the curve at the base of the Buddhas neck, whereas the
robe of Fig. 5 forms a distinct ‘v,’ and one can see the material gather as it drapes
over the Buddha’s right shoulder. The drapery on the torso of Figs. 2 – 5 also runs in
smoother folds, unlike the drapery in Fig. 1, which again forms ‘v-folds’ across the
chest and under the left arm.
-
The Buddha under discussion is physiologically more elongated than the
Sahri-Bahlol example; the body is more slender, and has a slender - elongated
neck (For similar neck see Fig. 5 compare with short neck Fig.1)
-
Usnisha is composed of two rows of curls, in contrast with Fig. 1 which has a
wavy mass pulled up into a bun, in a less schematic way.
-
This Buddha does not have a moustache, unlike the Sahri-Bahlol examples
which do show a faint moustache of the youthful Buddha
From these few comparisons we can place this example within the mature period (or
height) of Gandharan sculpture, 2nd – 3rd century AD.2
The base of the Buddha may illustrate the Entreaty to Preach Doctrine,3 where a
central disk with engraved ‘rays’ rests on a throne and is worshipped by four devotees
(Fig. 6).
In a number of instances a disc, radiate or plain receives worship in a context where
the cult of object is often an attribute such as the Buddhas turban or bowl. Some
scholars interpret the disk as the Buddhas halo, but according to Zwalfe, discs occur
in a more varied range of examples and many appear rather to symbolise the Buddha
himself, especially in connection with the First Sermon (Fig. 7). A proposal to
identify the disc as a solar symbol of the Buddha is based on a sky and fire-symbolism
connected with concepts of ascent and personal liberation (Enlightenment), return and
salvation (First Sermon).4
References
Czuma, S. Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India, Cleveland Museum of Art & Indiana
University Press, Cleveland, USA, 1985
Kurita, I. Gandharan Art II - The World of the Buddha, Ancient Buddhist Art Series, Nigensha
Publishing Co. Ltd, Japan 1990
Tissot, F Gandhara, Librairie D'Amerique et d'Orient. Paris, 1985
Tissot, F. Sahrī-bāhlol (Part IV) South Asian Archaeology 1993, Part II
_______ The Site of Sahrī-bāhlol in Gandhara South Asian Archaeology 1987, Vol. 2
Zwalf, W A A Catalogue of the Gandharan Sculpture in the British Museum, Vol.II British Musuem
Press, London 1996
Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw The ‘Scythian’ Period – An Approach to the history, art and epigraphy and
palaeography of north India from the 1st century BC to the 3rd century Ad, Leiden, 1949
Varardi, Giovanni ‘Avatarana: a note on the Bodhisattva image dated in the third year of Kaniska in the
Sarnath Museum’ East and West, 35, 67-101
2
Sculpture was produced in the regions of Gandhara up until the 6 th century AD, but by approximately
7 century AD most of the monasteries were abandoned.
3
Zwalfe, Vol. Ip. 180
4
Verardi, 1985: 85
th
Fig. 2 Standing Buddha
Mardan, Pakistan
Kushan Period, 3rd Century AD
Grey schist
Height: 115.6 cm
Peshawar Museum
Fig. 3 Standing Buddha
Gandhara, Pakistan
Kushan Period, 3rd Century AD
Grey schist
Height: 116 cm
New Delhi National Museum
Fig. 4 Standing Buddha
Pakistan
Kushan Period, 3rd Century AD
Grey schist
Height: 49 cm
British Museum
Fig. 5 Standing Buddha
Sarhi-Bahlol, Gandhara
Kushana Period
2nd – 3rd century CE
Schist
Height:246
Peshawar Museum (Kurita 206)
Fig. 6 Detail: Standing Buddha
Gandhara, Pakistan
Kushan Period
2nd - 3rd Century CE
Grey schist
Height: 160 cm (ca. 63 inches)
Fig. 7 Panel showing the Entreaty to Preach the Doctrine
Gandhara, Pakistan
Kushan Period
2nd - 3rd Century CE
Grey schist
Dimensions: 26.7 x 23.5 x 5.1 cm
BM OA 1966.10-17.2